Waking Up is Hard To Do

I love how huge his "newborn" pants are.

A little Noah in action. Sorry, Jeremy's hand is in the way and the first half I have the camera turned wrong. Oh well, you get the idea :)

How Can This Be?

How did my 2-week-old sleep sleep for 5.5 hours last night?? I have done a little reading and it seems that shouldn't be happening for at least a few more weeks. He only woke up long enough for his Mamaw to change his diaper during that time. I woke up and panicked a little because I couldn't imagine why she didn't bring him to me to feed. :) Whatever happened, the little extra ZZZ's were great! I am taking him for walks in his stroller everyday to help him be more alert during the day and sleepy at night.

Is it sad to be excited that I just took my first trip out of the house alone in 2 weeks? It was just to return a way overdue library book and stop at Sonic for Happy Hour drinks but it was nice! :)

I have to let all the naysayers (no idea how you spell that) know that I am recovering nicely from the c-section! There was really only a day or two where the incision gave me trouble, mostly because we were trying to get my meds adjusted. I have been off the pain meds for quite a while now.

I am bummed because we were supposed to do his newborn pics this morning (I have a photographer coming to the house for them) but it was cloudy. We are trying to reschedule for next week and I'm hoping the cord will have fallen off by then.

Here are the latest pics:

He hates bathtime!

You can't see but this towel says I Love Daddy and has 2 little whales.

Night and Day, Day and Night

We had to laugh yesterday when Noah got his first piece of mail (social security card) and his first phone call (reminder from the pediatrician's office about today's appointment).

At the visit today he weighed in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce and measured 19 inches. Did he really grow a whole inch in one week?? No wonder all newborns do is eat, sleep, and poop.

Speaking of sleeping, Dr. B confirmed that Noah has moved into the "day and night confusion" stage. He woke up for a feeding at 4:00am, and after nursing off and on, changing 3 poopy diapers, and listening to him not sleeping in his crib, I gave up at 6:00am and handed him off to my MIL. I have to say that breastfeeding is the most frustrating thing I have attempted to do. So I made an appointment tomorrow with a lactation consultant from the hospital that I like and am continuing to pump and hope we can get it all straightened out!

Riding to the hospital for his Texas DNA test:

My brother and niece. She is a little crazy about her cousin.

First trip to the neighborhood park:

Life is Good

Noah's First Week

Well, I must apologize to all my blog stalkers for taking so long to get an update in. I never imagined how busy we would be! One baby can certainly keep three adults on their toes. For some reason I thought there would tons of time just laying around the hospital for things such as email and blogging. Turns out it doesn't work that way! Anyway, onto the important stuff!



We ended up staying at the hospital an extra day because I was having a few issues. We came home Tuesday, April 14. There was really only one day that I was rethinking my c-section decision because there was some trouble getting my medication adjusted. After that the main problem was just exhaustion and breastfeeding. We were only getting about two hours of good sleep a night and not finding time for naps between all the hospital staff and visitors. And then my milk came in. After only two days. Milk normally arrives around three to six days after delivery. And my body seems to think that I am the "octomom" because I have been painfully engorged since very early Monday morning. The nurses kept coming in to marvel at my boobs. Yeah, when you have a baby all sense of modesty goes out the window! So right now we are doing the pump-and-feed method until things get back under control, which really stinks. Noah and I were just getting the hang of the nursing business.



Yesterday Noah had his first visit to the pediatrician, Dr. Badaracco. He gained back some of the weight he lost and is back to six pounds, seven ounces. He got shorter, only measuring at 18 inches. :) He also got circumcised. The doctor told us he slept through the procedure (we opted for the ring) but then woke up and screamed the whole way home. It broke my heart. I rocked him and held him for a long time and he eventually seemed to be feeling better.


Jeremy and I are so in love. We just can't get over how beautiful and perfect our son is. He has the sweetest temperament and is a great sleeper so far. You know that you are smitten when your husband is talking about how cute he is during a 2:00am feeding.



Speaking of husbands, mine totally wins all the awards. He has been the best through this whole thing. He admitted that he has done a lot of things he never imagined over the past week. How many men are willing to clean up meconium diapers, help their wife take a shower, use the bathroom, change her underpinnings, pump when her breasts are making her cry, and is happy about getting up in the night to feed the baby? And somewhere he found some patience, which is definitely out of the ordinary! :) I love you and could not have made it without you.



Everything has settled down and we are glad to be at home with our moms taking turns helping out and our friends bringing meals over. Thank you to everyone for all the emails and comments! I love hearing from you, even if I don't have time to respond to everything! Here are a few more pics:

No, he's not golfing yet. This is just the cutest, too large, going-home-outfit.

One of Noah's awesome nurses, Sherry. We had such a great experience at Medical Center of Lewisville. I was totally blessed to have a bunch of mother hens for nurses!

Easter Sunday. You didn't know that sometimes the Easter Bunny brings babies in baskets?

Sweet face. Everyone who knows Jeremy thinks Noah looks like him and everyone who knows me, sees me in him. We'll just have to wait and see!


His favorite thing to do.

Introducing Noah Timothy Barclay

He's here and he is perfect in every way. The delivery was quick and smooth despite my nerves! He came out screaming and peeing all over the doctor.

I think Tina won the wager! He weighed in at 6 pounds 9 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches long. He is such a sweet little guy. More later when I get a chance!

On the Eve of 39 Weeks

Well I thought I might get more of a chance to blog today but somehow I didn't! Our friends Ross & Kelly took us out to lunch, then Kelly and I had the best pedicures ever! So relaxing. Then I jetted off for one last OB appointment, where, shockingly, I learned that I did not gain any weight in the last week. Must have been some kind of fluke!

The new glider and ottoman arrived today and they are extremely comfy, as well as a good match for the nursery. Tonight Jeremy and I had our last "sane" dinner (as he called it) at Blue Goose Mexican Cantina and it was yummy. Especially the sopapillas and cinnamon ice cream!

We are frantically packing and doing last minute stuff around the house. Luckily, I am not having much time to think! I am going to take a shower, take a dramamine, and sleep until 3:00am when I will get up for a little snack. No eating or drinking after 4:00am, which is going to be painful in the morning.

This is all a little surreal. Are we really having a baby tomorrow? I am really going to miss all his little kicks and punches. My next post will contain first pics and all the important details. Everyone needs to make a wager on his weight in the comments section. Oh, and we'll be announcing the elusive middle name...whatever it is!

Keep the prayers flowing for a healthy, speedy delivery tomorrow. I keep reminding myself that God has it all covered. My "drive-thru" baby will be here soon! Thanks for all the well wishes today. Love you guys.

T-minus 2 days

Well, today is technically my first day of maternity leave. So what am I doing with it?

I went to my women's group this morning and they prayed for me and made me feel a little better. Then I ran some errands: Target, the bank (thanks for the cash Mom & Dad, I decided to take you up on it after all), returned a movie to Blockbuster, and came home. This afternoon I have been glued to the couch while I watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (don't bother) and devoured a bag of Twizzlers. This is contructive right? So many things I need to be doing!!

People keep asking if I am excited and I give them my best deer-in-the headlights smile. Some of the thoughts running through my head: Two days?! Where did that forever long pregnancy go?...What was I thinking? What am I going to do with a baby?... Everything is about to change, permanently... They are going to do WHAT to me at the hospital? Get the Xanax ready... I don't function well on less than 8 hours of sleep...

After this morning I started to feel a little more excited and ready to do this. Jeremy is excited enough for both of us. He has been trying to eject the kid all week. He even went in late to work on Tuesday so he could make me french toast for breakfast before my last day of work. And he's taking me to Buffalo Wild Wings tonight (or as we nicknamed it, Buff Wi Wi). OK, so that one is really more his thing than mine but he has been fully supporting my eating habits lately.

That's about it for today! I will update again tomorrow.

OK...for real?

Seriously? Jeremy and I just watched this program on TLC called "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" or something to that effect. You know, a collection of stories of women going into labor, squeezing a kid out, without ever realizing they are pregnant.

Even hearing their explanations, I find it hard to believe. I watched because this lady stopped me in the faculty lounge the other day to tell me about this show, and possibly because she wanted to make sure I knew I was pregnant. (Really, just check out my pics from the previous blog. There's no hiding this.) I told her I haven't missed out on the fact, not even for a day. While watching, I actually laughed so hard I had tears. Come on, one lady pushed her baby out into the toilet because she thought she was getting relief from the BM she needed to have so badly!

Just had to share! Thanks to everyone for all the sweet comments today! I'm still schlepping myself around and looking forward to a busy final day at work tomorrow.

38 Weeks

Yesterday I was just looking back at our vacation pictures from last summer marveling at how skinny I was. I was jogging quite a bit and was nicely toned when this all began!

Well, this week was eventful! On April 2, the doctor checked my cervix and pronounced me dilated to one centimeter but my cervix was still tightly closed and not thinning at all. I actually asked her to check because sometimes that speeds things along. Crazy right? I had this thought that if he decided to come before the 10th, I would just go ahead and push the little guy out!

On April 3, exactly 38 weeks, we had a little false alarm. I'll spare the slightly gross details but my doctor instructed me to head down to Labor & Delivery to get checked out. My water was still intact and apparently many pregnant women head in with lots of false alarms. What I did learn, was that I really do want him to stay put until the 10th! As I lay in the hospital bed, I began, in true Amy fashion, to panic very quietly, just a bit. What was I thinking? I am NOT ready for this! Nevermind, I don't want to push anything out of my body! Get me out of here... I think it must have been one of those control things. The nurse checked me again and said that I was still at one centimeter but that I was beginning to thin out (whatever that means exactly, I still don't get). And they sent me home. Hooray!

Jeremy doesn't think Noah will make it until Good Friday but I am hopeful! Oh and I solved the baby monitor mystery! The ladies I work with gave me a nice little luncheon at Bridlewood Country Club and each one of them gave us their favorite children's book plus the monitor. So sweet!

Here is the mostly finished nursery. Just needs a few more touches, including the new glider and ottoman when they arrive. Picture them in place of the old blue chair!

Your Ring Finger

My husband sent me this today and I thought it was so cool, I just had to share. Its a Chinese saying but still Biblically accurate! Love that guy...